Man to face Omagh murder charges

An electrician is to be charged later this month with murdering 29 people who died in the Omagh bomb massacre, the Northern Ireland high court was told today.

Papers are to be served on Sean Gerard Hoey, 35, from Jonesborough, South Armagh, who is already in custody accused of a series of terrorist offences. A crown barrister told a bail application at the high court in Belfast that papers were being prepared against Mr Hoey. They were likely to be served around May 19 and an initial court hearing is due to take place on May 26. Gordon Kerr QC said: "We can confirm that police received directions on April 19 that murder charges in relation to those killed in the Omagh bombing would be considered by a magistrate at a preliminary inquiry."

Mr Hoey is facing 20 charges involving explosives and possessing timer units allegedly linked to several mortar, car and roadside bombs in the months before the Omagh attack. He is also accused of being a member of the Real IRA, the dissident republican terror group which carried out the August 1998 bombing.

In the high court today his defence barrister, Martin O'Rourke, said he had asked the crown to pass on details of any new evidence that would lead to further charges against the defendant.

He said: "I have also ascertained from Mr Kerr that papers will contain some additional forensic reports relating to evidence against the defendant. At the moment we have been given limited access to some of the forensic reports. Obviously the picture will be complete when the full preliminary inquiry papers are available."

His request for a further adjournment to allow the legal team to study the documents was granted by the judge, Mr Justice Higgins.

Any trial will be one of the biggest mass murder trials in British and Irish legal history. The no-warning blast from a 225kg (500lb) car bomb in the centre of the Tyrone market town on a busy Saturday afternoon was the worst single atrocity of the Troubles.

But despite the biggest Irish cross-border police investigation ever, no one until now has been charged with murder, prompting the relatives of some victims to launch a landmark civil action against the five men they suspected of plotting the attack.

In addition to the 29 killed in the blast, including a woman pregnant with twins, more than 300 people were injured.

With documents running into the thousands, the police files in the case have been with the office of the director of public prosecutions in Belfast since last summer after a complex 18-month review of all the forensic evidence by scientists from Toronto, New York and Switzerland.

The new police inquiry began in May 2002 and followed damning criticism by the Northern Ireland police ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, of the original investigation by the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the then chief constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan. Later, the then acting chief constable, Colin Cramphorn, and Sir Desmond Rea, chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, agreed to establish a fresh investigation.

The relatives' £15m civil action may now have to be delayed until after Mr Hoey's trial, which could last at least six months. A trial date could be set later this year, with Garda officers from Dublin and the border regions among witnesses expected to be called. Mr Hoey is not named in the civil action.

It is understood detectives believe associates of the Irish National Liberation Army were involved in the theft in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, of the car used in the bombing. The Continuity IRA is believed to have assisted in the building of the device, and the Real IRA responsible for delivering it.